What's Up Wednesday- April 23rd

Butterfly Orchids, Frakenmonster Manuscript & Why I've Been Stealing Extra Chopsticks

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up.  Should you wish to join, check out Jaime's or Erin's lovely blogs and sign up with the link widget at the bottom of the post.

WHAT I'M READING
Since I'm no longer grounded from books, I finally got to crack the cover of DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS. A lot of people have been commenting on the heft of the hardback. (It clocks in at over 600 pages) Me, I love a long book. It's like a dessert that never ends. A brownie the size of Texas with an ice cream sundae you can do the back stroke in. ;)


WHAT I'M WRITING

Real progress this week. Tangible, verifiable progress. (Yay!) 

I've managed to complete a few of my Spring Writing Bootcamp goals. One of which was posting an excerpt of LOVE AND OTHER CURIOSITIES on my current projects page. If you're remotely curious, you can read it Here. (scroll to the bottom)

I'm just shy of 47K on LOC. (shorthand, because seriously long title anyone?) My goal for the end of May is 50K, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. However, it's a Frankenmonster. I've written it in pieces, so stitching the whole mess into a cohesive whole is going to be "fright-night" scary. (Bwhahaha... *sigh*)

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO 

Why I've been stealing extra chopsticks...Exhibit A: 

I have a thing for sunburst mirrors. What I don't have a thing for is the $300-500 price tag that comes with them. (because, seriously?!) (I need to stop saying "seriously". I blame too many Grey's Anatomy reruns) I'm the kind of person that looks at something like that and goes "I could make that". Turns out I can, and for about $5 bucks. Because I pretty much stole extra chopsticks every time I went out for Chinese food. *grin* (What's the statute of limitations on that, because I just admitted to it) Add some chrome silver paint and some craft store mirrors and voila! I like it. It's hanging above my fireplace mantel and makes cool light patterns dance around the walls when the light hits it. Reminds me of snowflakes and diatoms.
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WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW 

The Butterfly Orchids are in bloom along the river. We wait all year for this. Pale cascades of native blooms, dotted in purple with pink throats, dangling from the oak trees. Gorgeous little epiphytes that burst forth en masse from nondescript little lumps into loveliness overnight. They smell just like Welch's Grape Soda to me.

There is a lesson in Butterfly Orchids. Never was there a more boring, nondescript, overlooked plant. It's a green lump. Barely recognizable as a plant. This is true of most orchids. Some, like Ghost Orchids, don't even have leaves. They are just a tangle of roots. But wait until they BLOOM. Orchidaceae is the most diverse plant family on the planet. Millions of blossoms, heart breakingly beautiful, strange in construction. A million different scents. Chocolate. Musk. And yes, Welch's Grape Soda.

You are an orchid. (Yes, I'm talking about you.) You are virtually alone in your virtual world constructing all these words. Wondering if anyone will ever read them. And if they do, what they will see in them. You are not dormant. Your metamorphosis is underway, just beneath the skin. A fury of activity and imagination that is going to explode into something unique. Something amazing. A million different colors. A million different scents. Someone is going to stop. Someone is going to notice this beauty you created and be flabbergasted at the improbability that your words will live in their brain, if for just a moment. 

Go be an orchid.

(We'll wait)

Ghost Orchid